The Royal Allegiance
The Royal Allegiance was a race of near-humans which controlled a conglomeration of over 29 million worlds. Their technological superiority outmatched even The Covenant but was inferior to the Forerunners. History Origins The Allegiance's origins lie in a coincidence. A small group of beings from The Order, an genetically enhanced race of humans, were put onto a Forerunner vessel, though it is unknown where it was bound. It travelled with two other ships, a Keyship and another vessel of unknown design, both filled with humans, to ensure the humans safely arrived back at their planet after sheltering on The Ark. However, disaster befell the three ships. They were hit by a stellar disturbance, disrupting their systems. The Keyship vented its atmosphere as well as its cargo of humans and drifted, empty, into deep space. The ship filled with the enhanced humans flew off course. The final ship was unaffected and the humans safely returned to Earth. The wayward ship drifted for hundreds of years, its cargo in suspension. Eventually it reached a former Forerunner city planet. Automated protocols activated and the ship crashed on the planet, which the crashed humans called Thera. Early Years Over the next on hundred years or so, the humans, or Therans as they began to call themselves, spread out across the entire planet. The Forerunner city was, for the most part, underground, so above ground there was space for hunting and, when it was discovered, farming. For the most part, the Therans kept out of the Forerunner sections of the planet, for being underground and unknown, they had amassed a fearful reputation for bad things happening and strange, metal floating objects. A group of a few Therans, known as the Night Walkers, dared to brave the alien areas and explore. Historians looking back agree that, without the Night Walkers, the Allegiance would never have become a Tier One race or possible never have existed at all. Galactic Expansion Following the discovery of and use of Forerunner technology, the Therans rapidly advanced, reaching Tier 3 around 7,000 BC. Around this time they also colonised their first few planets, Avalon and Haven. By 2500 they had a territory spanning 45,000 light years and encompassing over 7.49 billion inhabitable worlds and 29 million populated ones. The Royal Allegiance had amassed a population of over four hundred thirty-five trillion by 2700. A massive project to populate more than 1% of the Allegiance's inhabitable planets was planned to start in 2741 but was cancelled after the start of the Swarm War, as all non-essential resources were diverted to the war effort. Wars and Conflicts In the Allegiance's history, there were quite a few wars, something which was greatly regretted by the Therans. The Ancient War The Ancient War was a legendary, apocalyptic event before the founding of The Allegiance. The only evidence for it is carvings in ancient temples and archaic writings in obscure, long-dead languages. Reformation War The Reformation War, fought between 2418 and 2422, was a series of bitter conflicts between The Allegiance Loyalists and a splinter-faction called The Guild. The war was narrow but the Allegiance prevailed, although losing up to 40% of their naval force. The Order The Allegiance had been aware of another race of humans existing in the galaxy called The Order. Not much was known about them, they were very secretive and kept to themselves. The Allegiance had rare, minor skirmishes with vessels believed to belong to The Order, these usually fared ill for the Allegiance forces involved. Human-Covenant War In late 2553, a few months after the Battle of Installation 00, an Allegiance task force of fifteen cruisers, frigates, destroyers and carriers slipped into the Sol System. The still-rebuilding Home Fleet, fearing the worst, scrambled all available ships- including a Sangheili battlegroup garrisoned at Earth. The resulting armed stand-off was averted the new warships broadcasting the Allegiance fleet's purpose- to aid in the fight against the now dissolved Covenant. After a difficult first contact, the races of the UNSC, the Allegiance and the Sangheili all found each other close allies- and over the decades that followed, a new era of peace and prosperity began. Trade routes established, multi-species colonisation began, and Earth's human race flourished under their older cousin's wing. The Allegiance, along with the Sangheili, gave vital support, resources and logistics to begin rebuilding the human race. The Allegiance, the more advanced of the two different human civilisations, found themselves embarrassed and humbled by how the lesser of the two saved the entire galaxy from death at the hands of the Rings and the Flood, neither of which the Allegiance had encountered. Before the end of the year the Sangheili and the Allegiance launched massive attacks on the disarrayed Covenant Empire. The singular honour of subjugating Doisac fell to the Elites, but the Allegiance committed one of its five Sector Fleets to diversionary invasions and secondary objectives, totalling thousands of warships. The Hunters joined the Sangheili at once after the death of Truth, which stirred up old allegiances between them. The Brutes refused to surrender, and vowed to fight until every one was dead- something which the Sangheili were all to happy to do. Once the Brutes on their homeworld had been virtually wiped out, the Jackals withdrew their services from the Covenant and had all their armed warships confiscated by the Allegiance. Seeing a stronger overlord, they offered their services to the Allegiance for a price- the Allegiance responded with this bargain; never fight again, or face the consequences from the Elites. The Unggoy defected to the Elites also, and the Prophets vanished without trace. Some say they committed mass suicide rather than see their empire fall into the hands of the Heretics. As the Allegiance and the Sangheili destroyed the last remaining Brute footholds and pockets, they built up a respect for each other that can only be obtained by fighting alongside one another. The two races both saw how much they had in common. For the next few centuries, as the UNSC was helped to rebuild, rearm and re-colonise, and a new era of exploration, trade, commerce and peace began. Swarm War In 2733, an destructive and deadly race was discovered, initiating a war that spanned over a century and a half. The Swarm had been discovered, an insectoid race which fed off of humans. The Swarm War devastated the entire galaxy, although the Allegiance bore the brunt of the Swarm assaults. The war lasted for almost one hundred and fifty years (2733-2878), changed the face of the Galaxy permanently and resulted in the near-destruction of the Royal Allegiance. Governance The Royal Allegiance, as the name suggests, was a monarchy, although the de facto leaders were the Council of Five. Each council member was appointed from one of the five sectors of Allegiance space, and the Council voted on laws and made decisions. Each of the five sectors effectively counted as a political party, with a senate for each sector. Every 6 years the overall population voted on which sector should gain control, and the Council member for that sector was appointed Chancellor, who had the most power of all, including the ability to overrule a maximum of two other councillors in terms of voting. In addition, the ruling Monarch had the power to overrule the Chancellor but not the other council members. The Monarch, along with the Royal Family, was seen as the most symbolically important of the political entities. Not only this, but the monarch usually had the respect of his/her citizens and was seen as the most influential too. Physical Traits Main Article: Theran Remarkably, Therans looked very similar to their Earth brothers. However, they were slightly stronger and more intelligent. This was as a result of their ancestors being genetically engineered by the Forerunners to create the perfect warrior race. In terms of appearance, Therans differed in the fact that long hair was deemed socially standard- anyone without long hair, especially females, was considered to be an outsider. This has led to social confrontation when it came to Allegiance soldiers, male and female, who had to keep their hair short so they could wear the battle armour of the Allegiance. This led to an isolation of the already socially shunned Allegiance Armed Forces, who were wrongly seen as the symbols of the bloodshed within the Allegiance and related to war in general. In addition, the people of the Allegiance had notably different facial expressions. They were more subtle and less noticeable, so much so that, to the untrained eyes of humans, they were often be mistaken as indifferent. The emotional feelings of Therans were much the same as normal, but their expression of these emotions was markedly less pronounced. Also, the Allegiance race of people had little or no body hair aside from their face and head. Therans had a slight average height increase on humans, normally for men this was not noticeable, they just appear slightly taller. However, with the women, they were almost as tall as the men, making a Theran woman unmistakable. Both male and female, were more slender than their Earth brethren, being thinner, more agile and more wiry. This was attributed to their higher muscle density. The word 'Theran', as well as referring to the species, was a demonym for Allegiance citizens from the planet Thera. It was also the Allegiance name for their language, and occasionally used to describe all citizens of the Allegiance regardless of their species. Religion The Royal Allegiance remained a mono-religious faction even after their exposure to other races, species and their religions. The religion had no name like 'Christianity' because there was no other religion. It was comparable to the religion of Ancient Greece on Earth; both shared the same Gods and some of the theological ideas but the stories behind the Gods differed. The reason for the similarity was unknown, seeing as 'Ancient Greece' evolved on Earth, thousands of light years away, thousands of years after the Therans became separated from The Order and the humans. The religion evolved on Thera, it was unknown when but it was at least 65,000BC. This meant that the religion existed in the Allegiance before it did on Earth. Military The Royal Allegiance military was split up into three groups; the Navy, the Army and the Marine Corps. of the Royal Allegiance Navy.]] Navy Main Article: Royal Navy The Navy was the oldest of the three and the largest also. It was responsible for the defense of the Allegiance in space, and transporting the other forces to deployment locations or planets. They also patrolled Allegiance territory and kept it safe- they were the first and main line of defense. They were equipped with various types of warships for different purposes. The Allegiance Navy was the largest and most advanced in the galaxy. There were approximately 0.42 Battlegroups to each populated planet in the Allegiance. The structure of the Navy was as follows: *1 Battlegroup made up of 5-30 ships (numbered according to how many in Fleet, e.g Battlegroup 254) *1 Taskforce Made up of 32 Battlegroups (named numerically in Greek letters e.g Taskforce Beta) *1 Fleet made up of 20 Taskforces (named numerically according to how many in Sector fleet e.g 12th Fleet) (640 Battlegroups in a Fleet) *1 Sector Fleet made up of 24 Fleets (e.g 5th Sector Fleet) (15,360 Battlegroups in a Sector Fleet) *Navy made up of 800 Sector Fleets (12,288,000 Battlegroups in the Navy) The Army The Army had the responsibility of all land operations, both offensive and defensive. They were equipped with large numbers of infantry, armoured vehicles, and aircraft. The traditional role of Air Force was filled by the Army Air Corps. They mounted attacks with the assistance of the Navy and provided a versatile defense on the ground. They were nicknamed 'The Grey Army' due to the fact that most of their armour, vehicles and equipment was coloured grey, though this was also a reference to the 'brainwashed' and all identical stereotype held by many Therans of the Army. This belief that soldiers has a lack of individuality was based on the Theran's deep-seated revulsion at the concept of war. Marine Corps The Marine Corps provided the shipboard defense for the Navy, repelling boarding parties and operating primarily in space. Unlike most other marine corps, most notably the UNSC Marine Corps, the Allegiance marines rarely engaged in ground combat, only doing so when there were no army unit present. They were trained mainly in CQB tactics and weaponry, giving them an advantage over most general troops. The Allegiance armed forces benefited from a wide range of technological advancements which enabled them to remain the most efficient in the galaxy. The close relationship between the Elites and the Allegiance meant this technology was passed on to them. Technology The Royal Allegiance was much more advanced than the majority of the races in the Milky Way. Although they did not surpass the Forerunners, they were still regarded as a Tier 1 race, capable of all but world and installation construction on such a massive scale. In terms of military technology, combat effectiveness was greatly increased by such engineering prowess. Zero-Point Energy This revolutionary power source was used for eons by the Allegiance for power requirements. They powered entire planets in groups of two or three, though with massive generators being bigger than cities. It was only with the turn of the 28th century that miniaturisation began to occur and develop, and generators were developed small enough to be carried by warships. As a result, warship development skyrocketed. The new, near-limitless power source enabled colossal prow-based cannons, shields that could withstand intense bombardment, and FTL travel that eclipsed other races. Zero-Point Generators were capable of generating astronomical amounts of energy. Their basic function was to extract zero-point energy from an artificially-created region of subspace. In physics, zero-point energy was the lowest possible energy that a quantum mechanical physical system may possess and was the energy of the ground state of the system. Particle Cannons Particle Cannons were the standard heavy armament of the Royal Allegiance Navy. For the majority of their use, they were so large that they could only be used on massive starships. Larger versions still were mounted in huge ground-based cannons. As their design was refined, they were able to be mounted on turrets, and then even on tanks. Similarly, with the advent of the 28th century, many projectile-based small arms were replaced with energy-based weapons. The Allegiance had Particle Cannons for centuries, mounted in huge turrets on warships, but only small enough to mount on fighters in 2690, and only small enough for small-arms from 2700 onwards. Geographical Details The territory of The Royal Allegiance spanned approximately 45,000 light years at its farthest points. The quickest FTL drive available in 2733 was capable of 7 light year per hour or 168 light years per day. At this speed it took about 267 days to cross Allegiance space. In terms of populated planets, in the core of Allegiance space in the Perseus Arm, the most populated planets were all extremely close to each other by relative standards. Exclusive of the core worlds, populated Allegiance planets were few and far between and, although there were over 7 billion worlds that, with terraforming, could support human life, only 29 million were populated, meaning only 1 in 258 worlds were populated, less than 0.5%. As a result, Allegiance space was large but rather empty and devoid of life; this was certainly true in 2733, but after the Swarm War, with massive loss of territory the populating of the Allegiance became more intensively located. A massive project was planned for commencement in 2741, aiming to populate at least 1% of the Allegiance's terraformable worlds. In 2733 the project was cancelled and its considerable budget re-assigned to military needs. The UNSC's territories differed in that they were rather small, though within this space planets were everywhere. The reason for the Allegiance's planets being so spread out within their territory is that, until around 2650, terraforming was impossible. As a result, nearer planets that could support life if terraformed were skipped, in favour of a farther planet that did not require terraforming. The UNSC developed terraforming far before the Allegiance; a possible cause of this would be that the Allegiance had the ability to travel further to inhabitable planets, so terraforming was not a necessity, while the UNSC had limited traveling abilities and had to make the most of every planet they could reach. The Royal Allegiance had amassed a population of over four hundred thirty-five trillion by 2700 an average population of just 15 million per planet. The Allegiance Navy was the largest in the galaxy, but there was still less than half a Naval Battlegroup to each planet. Navy expansion was sidetracked in favour of more intensive terraforming operations. The Swarm War resulted in the loss of twenty million of the Allegiance's 29 million planets and 300 trillion Therans of a 435 trillion population. Save for The Order, which was completely destroyed during the War, no other faction suffered so greatly or fought so much, despite the fact that both the Humans and the Sangheili both lost billions of civilians and soldiers too. Known Royal Allegiance Planets *'Acheron'- A small, pleasant administrative world near the edge of Allegiance space, Acheron's terrain was mainly urban sprawls spread between mountain ranges and dense woodlands. It was the first world to be attacked by The Swarm. *'Astrea'- Sharing the Apollo System with Avalon was the world of Astrea. Developed moderately though not massively, the planet benefitted from a close balance between urban areas and developed sectors and natural, untouched expanses. The planet was besieged by the Swarm in 2842. The Allegiance did not have enough forces to protect both Avalon and Astrea and so abandoned the latter to its fate. Avalon was scarred after its siege and Astrea was virtually leveled. Astrea itself was left in ruin for hundreds of years after the battle, a silent memorial to the billions who died there. *'Aurelia'- A large, distant though heavily populated and well-traversed planet. The vast majority of the planet's surface was expansive, dense forests and massive flat, green plains, though there was a large mountain range on the far northwest of the continent. The Royal Botanical Gardens were located on this planet, a favourite of the Queen Mother. During the Battle of Aurelia in 2735, she along with hundreds of millions of soldiers and civilians died when the Swarm invaded. The massacre at Aurelia continued to be used as powerful propaganda for the remainder of the war. *'Avalon'- Avalon was the first planet to be colonised by the Therans. It was almost completely covered in an entire city, and was a hub of commerce and trade. The planet had the highest population in the Allegiance. Nicknamed the 'Throne of the Monarch', it was here that the Allegiance monarchy mainly resided. *'Bastion'- Bastion was a large, industrial but mainly clean planet relatively near the Allegiance core. Many of the Allegiance's top brass lived here, along with the huge military barracks, training facilities and military hardware company headquarters. *'Britannia'- Britannia was a large, centrally-located planet in the Cycnos System. Due to its location it benefited from one of the few early terraforming successes, allowing it to grow into a rather wealthy and prosperous world. It was in close proximity to large resource deposits in the asteroids of the Mayu Belt, and as a result several refineries and shipyards were located on and orbiting the planet. It fell to the Swarm in 2841, allowing the Swarm a path into the Allegiance's core and signalling what looked like the beginning of the end for the Allegiance's fight. *'Brontes'- Brontes was a small artificial moon built in 2612, orbiting the planet Coeus, a small mining world. Because the planet's surface was so inhospitable, Brontes was constructed to serve as a foundry, and to refine and process the raw materials that arrived from the planet by space tether. Much of the labour was done by automated Drone workers, but this was overseen by Theran, human and Sangheili foremen. In addition to this there was a garrison of five thousand Allegiance Marines. It was equipped with hundreds of weapons emplacements to act in a secondary role as a defense platform. It was heavily damaged in the Battle of Coeus in 2740, but escape harm during the Second Battle of Coeus because its orbit had hidden it behind the planet and away from the Swarm Fleets. *'Coeus'- Coeus was a small, inhospitable, rocky world abundant with resources. With the assistance of the Allegiance, several private companies set up a mining operation here despite the adverse conditions. Brontes was built in orbit to process the raw materials mined on the planet by automated worker Drones and sent up via space tether. It was invaded by The Swarm in 2740, but after two consecutive battles the Allegiance successfully fought the insectoids off. However, it was invaded and defeated in 2830 by The Swarm. *'Eden'- Eden was a small, relatively undeveloped core world. Its population was the smallest of all the core planets at under 14 million. In the latter part of the 28th century (2750-) its potential was recognised and rapid development started. Though it still remained agricultural in its role, others were rapidly establishing themselves alongside it. The planet fell to the Swarm in 2846. Due to its position, the Allegiance had to gain it back by any means or watch the core fall through it. It was reclaimed with assistance from the UNSC and Sangheili, but nothing of value save its strategic location was recovered. *'Haven'- One of the more untouched worlds in the Allegiance, Haven was the third world colonised by the Allegiance and the first one not to become massively overpopulated. It was one of the more popular holiday destinations for citizens of the core worlds, some of whom didn't see open spaces on their homeworld. It was relatively undeveloped save for a few, small, clean cities. It was the only core world not to be destroyed, damaged or even invaded by The Swarm. The same could not be said for Thera, the closest planet to Haven. *'Miranda'- Miranda was a large, mainly urban planet near the periphery of Allegiance space. It was famous for producing the best civilian ships in the galaxy, though possibly also the most expensive. It was invaded in 2738 by The Swarm, and this time, once the Swarm fleet had been destroyed, the Allegiance engaged them on the ground rather than bombard the planet, mindful of the large media presence and many millions of civilians. The planet was reclaimed though at a terrible cost to both the military and the planet's citizens. *'Radiance'- Radiance was a tiny colony world far from the core of the Allegiance. It was the furthest inhabited world from the core, populated only by a small force of 5000 marines, 400 scientists and technical experts, around 4,000 civilians, a frigate, a destroyer and a corvette. Its purpose was to attempt to contact life in other galaxies. The colony only reported back to the Allegiance at large every 12 months, other than that it was completely cut off and isolated. It was cold, icy and largely unpleasant. In 2614 The Swarm invaded the world, killing every single person. The Allegiance did not discover until almost nine months later, when there was nothing to be found but wreckage and debris. The incident was investigated but the Swarm were not seen again for over a hundred years, and the event did nothing but haunt the minds of those whose job it was to prepare for the future. *'Salvo'- Salvo was the only natural satellite of the planet Britannia. Its terrain was rocky and its climate cold. It was the location of a large and powerful sensor grid spanning the entire system. It was used by a 'Dumb' AI to track every single asteroid in the Mayu Belt, a relatively calm asteroid belt towards the periphery of the Cycnos System. *'Thera'- Thera was the homeworld of the Allegiance and its spiritual heart. Every Theran felt a deep-seated connection to the planet from which he or she came from, that gave the entire race their technology, built by the Forerunners, those who enhanced the Therans from mere humans. It was imperative to the Theran way of life, more important than any other place. It was a planet augmented by Forerunner city, in essence it was one big Forerunner city, with constructions stretching kilometres both into the sky and underground. The heart of every Theran in the galaxy was crushed in 2876 when the planet's citizens were feasted on by the Swarm and then it was pounded into dust from orbit, and the Allegiance's tactics changed to incorporate a weapon so destructive no one thought it would be used again, and a plan so risky, and on which so much rested, that the entire galaxy hung by a thread. Known Royal Allegiance Ship Types Warship Classes *'Triton-class Heavy Destroyer' - A powerful, versatile destroyer class. It was excellent against the vast majority of warship classes, and weak against large numbers of starfighters, particularly bombers. The class had a rather small ground forces complement and single ship capacity. *'Apollo-class Frigate' - A small, fast warship class, capable of easily defeating smaller vessels and dealing with starfighter threats. Was vulnerable to larger warships, particularly destroyers, cruisers and carriers. The Apollo-class had a large onboard forces complement and starfighter capacity. *'Ares-class Battleship' - A large, powerful battleship with an impressive array of armaments. It was slow but had long range, also very effective against other warships. It was weak against bombers and the largest enemy warships such as battlecruisers and 'super'-class vessels. It had a large fighter and bomber complement but no ground forces at all. *'Artemis-class Patrol Ship' - A small, fast and maneuverable vessel designed to engage and destroy fighters and bombers. It was extremely capable in its task and packed a large punch for its diminutive size, being able to destroy larger ships such as frigates in small groups. It was vulnerable to most larger warships such as destroyers, cruisers and battleships. It had no fighter complement and only possessed a limited onboard troop count, mainly for defensive purposes. *'Athena-class Cruiser' - A large, extremely powerful cruiser class vessel, capable of taking down even the largest and most dangerous warships. Holding large amounts of ground troops and many starfighters, there was not much the Athena-class was vulnerable to. Notable exceptions include 'super'-class vessels such as a supercarrier, or massive amounts of bombers. *'Hera-class Carrier' - A large, potent warship capable of defeating most smaller vessels including some destroyer classes. Its main role was to carry large amounts of fighters into battle, forming an effective protective screen to defend allied ships. Its armament was more than sufficient to protect it from most vessels. (coming soon) *'Centurion-class Gunship' - *'Regent-class Frigate' - *'Gladiator-class Frigate' - *'Bow-class Heavy Frigate' - *'Guardian-class Escort Destroyer' - *'Liberty-class Light Cruiser' - *'Trafalgar-class Heavy Cruiser' - *'Vanguard-class Strike Cruiser *'Raven-class heavy Carrier' - *'Crown-class Dreadnought' - *'Celestia-class Assault Ship' - *'Spectre-class Salvage Vessel' - Starfighter Classes *'AL-56 Flashfighter' - The Flashfighter was a small, fast and extremely agile fighter class. It was very well armed for its size though lacking completely in shielding and possessing very limited amounts of armour. They fared well against hostile starfighter classes and were capable of extended in-atmosphere operations with little loss of effectiveness. They were widespread throughout the Allegiance, and easily the most common ship in the Navy. *'AH-17 Raptor' - The Raptor was a potent anti-warship bomber class. It was extremely powerful, well-armed and well-protected by armour, though its speed and maneuverability suffered greatly as a result. It was quite capable of destroying the vast majority of warships provided they were protected from starfighters. Raptors normally fared extremely poorly against enemy fighters and interceptors due to their poor speed and agility. When used in conjunction with AL-56s or AL-61s, they are extremely effective as they can attack warships without harassment from hostile single ships. *'AL-61 Valiant Interceptor' - The Valiant was an extremely fast and agile fighter/interceptor introduced in response to the Swarm problem. Flashfighters fared well against enemy fighters but only on even terms, but the Swarm used mass tactics. The Valiant was basically the answer to the problem, a small, tremendously fast ship able to cut up Swarm fighters quickly, function alongside Flashfighters and assist them in battle, and be small and fast enough to never get hit. Their speed allowed them to avoid most fire offering them a higher chance of survival, but the ships were not protected by shielding and featured no armour at all. Unknown Class *'HMS Marchestra' - The ''Marchestra was the last of her class, a massive, multi-kilometre long vessel designed and used during the Reformation War. They were massively powerful but extremely impractical and hugely expensive to maintain. As a result all save the Marchestra were scrapped, the Marchestra herself being kept as a command ship, literally a mobile base, similar to the role a planet would play during a war, though with the added advantage of being mobile. The Marchestra was the flagship of the Royal Allegiance navy until her destruction with all hands at the Third Battle of Thera in 2876. *'HMS Ardent' - The HMS Ardent was a small to medium-sized frigate in service with the Allegiance Navy in 2614. Much of the information about this class is not known, the only known example of this class fought in the Battle of Radiance in 2614, where it was destroyed. It is unknown when the frigate was introduced or retired, though it was withdrawn from service at some point before 2700. *'HMS Hope' - Hope was a cruiser which served in the Navy from 2421 until 2553. She served briefly during the Reformation War, and extensively afterwards. In 2553 she traveled to Earth as part of a Battlegroup making first contact with the Humans. After this she was presented to the UNSC as a symbol of the Allegiance's future assistance, and was renamed the UNSC Glorious Horizon. Known Royal Allegiance Weaponry *'BR662-SHR Battle Rifle'- A long range, high-powered weapon used by the Allegiance between 2607 and 2800. It was accurate, powerful and had good range but was heavy and somewhat outdated towards the end of its service life. Its recoil was low and its rate of fire high, though its magazine did have a tendency to be depleted very quickly. *'AR-14 DEW Assault Rifle'- A short to medium-range rifle issued from 2724 onwards. It had a decent rate of fire, was pretty accurate at its intended usage range, and dealt large amounts of damage. It was heavily customisable and adaptable, and came in many useful battlefield variants. it was rather long at almost a metre in length and quite stocky, which made it awkward in close-quarters situations. It had high recoil and but was lightweight considering its size. *'J21-H Pistol'- The main Allegiance sidearm issued to the vast majority of combat personnel. It was rather large and heavy for a pistol, but dealt large amounts of damage. It had high range and good armour piercing qualities, making it an excellent personal defence weapon. It suffered from high recoil which meant it had a low practical rate of fire. *'RA-26 TCB'- The mainstream combat knife issued to Allegiance combat personnel. It was equally at home in use as a tool or CQB weapon, though it was always a last resort. It was relied upon and trusted, though its actual usage as a weapon was quite rare compared to its usage as a field tool. *'BRP32-SHR Battle Rifle'- It was this weapon that replace the BR662-SHR. Unlike its predecessor it was an energy-based weapon which gave it better damage qualities, increased ammunition capacity and far better battlefield versatility. Design was completed in 2715, and served alongside the weapon it was intended to replace from 2719 (the year tests were completed and it was distributed) until 2800. *'GPST'- A combat knife complimentary to the RA-26 TCB, designed for concealment and covert use. It was used mainly for special forces and recon teams rather than front-line troops. This weapon was actually developed by the UNSC but due to the simplicity and usefulness of the design it could be found all over the galaxy, including in the hands of Allegiance forces. *'SPBS-I Battle Armour'- The standard issue battlefield protective armour system issued to all Allegiance armed forces in one variant or another. It offered almost complete protection from ballistic weaponry and a decent standard of protection against directed energy weapons. It was highly customisable and adaptable and as a result highly effective in most combat situations. It offered complete protection from chemical/biological threats in the air and also from vacuum, hostile atmospheres, extreme variations in temperature and exoatmospheric conditions. It offered limited protection against radioactive attack. It was used from 2577 onwards. Known Royal Allegiance Star Systems *Acheron System *Apollo System *Camulos System *Cycnos System *Delph System *Helios System *Kaeden System *Mira System *Nox System *Theran System See Also *Theran *Silvers *The Swarm *Swarm War *Swarm War Timeline *Royal Navy *Hephaestus Arms Corporation *Hall of the Chevrons *Tomb of The Sovereigns *Council of Five *''HMS Marchestra'' *Ancient War *Athena *A Darkening Horizon *9.22x55mm HPSDAP